Jordan Kjome Posted April 8, 2003 Share Posted April 8, 2003 What is it, how does it work, and is it worth it? Also, which one do you use and reccommend? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j-malotky Posted April 8, 2003 Share Posted April 8, 2003 I use old used Computer UPSs on my systems. I don't hear any difference, but I have a first rate power at my new house. It depends on your power grid. When I lived in the City, I use to have a lot of power problems. JM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mighty Favog Posted April 8, 2003 Share Posted April 8, 2003 I've been using a Moster Cable HT-S5000 fro about two years now, I really can't say I've heard a difference with or without using it but it is, however, one mother of a surge protector. It can also be programmed to turn on each units instantly or with a delay for high current stuff like amps, etc. When I moved in the house I'm in we only had about 60 amps at the fuse box on the original 50 year old wiring. Since then I had it upgraded to 200 amps. The conditioner part of it filters out things like EMI (Electro Magnetic Interfearence) and other such nasties coming from wall current. Some units such as HT receivers and HT processors can emit a hissing through the mids and tweeters. This is just a nature of such beasts combined with the sensativity of horn loaded speakers. If you can afford it, look into a voltage regulating unit that has a power conditioner as well. Try here: http://www.monstercable.com/power/ The MC HT-S5000 retails for $600 but I found mine on e-Bay on a Dutch Auction for $369. It came unopened and undamaged. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike82 Posted April 8, 2003 Share Posted April 8, 2003 After trying several in my home, I ended up with the Custom Power Cord Power Block (~$450 retail). It absolutely smoked the way over-hyped PS Audio Power Plant for less than half the money. The CPCC uses a multiple-shielding technique rather than filtering. I noted a dramatic reduction in lowering the noise floor without compressing dynamics as I experienced with devices using surge poretectors. FWIW, the CPCC stuff has received several TAS Golden Ear Awards, for those needing reviewer imprimatur. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt1stcav Posted April 8, 2003 Share Posted April 8, 2003 ---------------- On 4/8/2003 10:12:03 AM Tom Blasing wrote: "I've been using a Moster Cable HT-S5000 fro about two years now, I really can't say I've heard a difference with or without using it but it is, however, one mother of a surge protector. It can also be programmed to turn on each units instantly or with a delay for high current stuff like amps, etc..." ---------------- Ditto...Tom pretty much summed it all up! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minn_male42 Posted April 8, 2003 Share Posted April 8, 2003 "line conditioners" in this reference usually means power filtering and/or removing possible rf or emi interference.... as was mentioned above.... most people have pretty good power in the united states and a line conditioner may or may not improve your sound..... while some line conditioners can clean up "dirty power", most of them really lack adequate surge protection.....your average surge protector contains three or four mov's (metal oxide varistors) to protect your equipment against surges.... an average mov costs about 35 cents...... for the best surge protection you can buy.....get a Series-Mode Surge Protector.... these are available from the following companies...... read a little on their websites and learn some more about how they work.... www.surgex.com www.brickwall.com www.zerosurge.com i work at an electonics distributor and we carry the surge-x line...... i also have a surge-x rackmount unit in my home system.... simply the best surge protection you can buy....period. surge-x carries a ten-year warranty and the company has never had a unit fail and has never had any customers' equipment suffer damage from voltage surges...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artto Posted April 12, 2003 Share Posted April 12, 2003 There are basically 3 different types of power "protection/conditioning", the power conditioner, a voltage regulator, AND a balanced power isolation transformer. It's very unlikely that you will ever need all three, mainly because voltage regulators and balanced power isolation transformers also usually incorporate some power protection features. Which units you will need depends on whether you only want good general protection, or you have specific problems to solve. Devices that offer power protection (or power conditioning) protect from potential damage caused by voltage spikes and--in some cases--extreme voltage from faulty wiring. Power protection devices do NOT stabilize line voltage. Low voltage or overvoltage conditions must be corrected by a voltage regulator, which uses voltage-sensing circuits and multi-tap transformers to keep voltage stable at 120V or 240V within a specified narrow range All sound equipment, analog or digital, whether for live performance or studio, should have basic protection against power spikes and surges, along with basic EMI/RFI isolation. This is essential, because spikes and surges can damage your equipment. EMI (electromagnetic interference) and RFI (radio frequency interference) will not damage your equipment, but can cause unpredictable and unacceptable fleeting noises and -- if strong enough -- ruin a recording or performance. Spikes are short pulses of energy with voltages as high as 6000 volts. Though they usually last only a few milliseconds, they nevertheless can cause damage to sensitive solid-state components. Spikes also can foul switch contacts and degrade wiring insulation over time. In some cases, with some audio equipment, spikes can cause audible pops or clicks. Worst-case spikes are caused by nearby lightning strikes. This type of protection is usually provided by a "power conditioner". RFI is radio frequency interference, while EMI is electromagnetic interference. Both refer to low-level signals picked up by audio circuits, either through the AC power lines or through unbalanced microphone, interconnect cables or musical instrument cables. Though neither EMI nor RFI is likely to cause damage to equipment, both can generate sufficiently strong signals to ruin a recording or interrupt a performance. Power conditioners and voltage regulators both usually incorporate EMI/RFI suppression circuits which keep such spurious signals out of audio circuits -- provided it comes in on the AC line. (RFI and EMI can also enter via audio cables , especially if their shielding is damaged. Power conditioners do not help with that problem.) Protection against sags and brownouts is provided by voltage regulator. I would be very careful with what kind of UPS (uninterruptable power supply as used on computers) you might use, especially if you decide to use a regulated power supply. Voltage regulators ARE NOT DESIGNED FOR FAST-RISETIME WAVEFORMS AND MAY SUSTAIN SERIOUS DAMAGE! In any case, I strongly advise against using square or stepped wave power supplies with audio equipment. If you use a UPS, get the higher quality kind that produces sine waves. The balanced isolation transformer (such as Furman's IT-1220) serves an entirely different function. While it does provide basic spike, surge, and RFI protection, and even advanced protection like Extreme Voltage Shutdown, it does not regulate voltage. However, its primary purpose is to reduce hum and buzz in low-noise audio and video systems. It does this by providing transformer balanced AC power. AC power that comes from the utility company and your wall socket is NOT balanced (regardless of how good you think your utility's power is). Balancing the AC power source significantly lowers the noise floor (typically 16 dB) and can make a dramatic difference -- particularly in digital recording studios. This type of power, when run around a studio, does not induce hum into nearby audio wiring, because the two conductors induce equal and opposite voltages that cancel each other out. Similarly, ground currents are all but eliminated by the same common-mode cancellation effect. Balanced power can eliminate the need to adopt complex and difficult-to-implement star-ground systems, heavy bus bars, and ground rods in audio and video systems. In sum, all audio systems should be protected at least, by power conditioning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt1stcav Posted April 12, 2003 Share Posted April 12, 2003 ---------------- On 4/12/2003 12:40:16 PM artto wrote: ..."Spikes are short pulses of energy with voltages as high as 6000 volts. Though they usually last only a few milliseconds, they nevertheless can cause damage to sensitive solid-state components. Spikes also can foul switch contacts and degrade wiring insulation over time. In some cases, with some audio equipment, spikes can cause audible pops or clicks. Worst-case spikes are caused by nearby lightning strikes. This type of protection is usually provided by a "power conditioner"... ...In sum, all audio systems should be protected at least, by power conditioning." ---------------- That's exactly what fried the transport mechanism and IC controls to my Nakamichi DRAGON cassette deck in '85! I didn't have any line conditioning for my system in my apartment in Germany; one night while listening to a tape, there was a brief electrical spike in the wiring to the old building I lived in. All I had for my audio was a voltage regulator to convert the European 220 volts down to 120 for my US-spec gear (and that had no spike/surge protection of any kind). That slight millisecond voltage spike completely destroyed my deck's entire transport mechanism and all control functions (luckilly, none of my other components were affected). When I got back stateside in January of '86, I spent $190 in repairs to get my Nakamichi up and running again! My HTS 5000 may not be the very best in total protection against surges, spikes, lightning strikes, EMI/RFI isolation, etc., but it is protection nonetheless, and I wouldn't use any system without one, period! Purchase the best one that you can afford...it's definately worth it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheEAR Posted April 12, 2003 Share Posted April 12, 2003 Arttie said it summed it all well I use a few units from PS Audio,Chang,Monster and one Panamax.Mostly for protection,the "better more transparent" sound comes as a distant second.As gains in pure audible quality are very minor(well the Chang helped almost eliminate the audible buzz I had on the ATI 1505). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dkbks Posted April 15, 2003 Share Posted April 15, 2003 For years I've used an Adcom ACE515 line conditioner. Not as fancy as the big boys but it does filter EMI and made a modest improvement in my sound (fairly dirty power here.) The improvement was mainly in a quieter background. The ACE also serves handily as a "control center". The other components are plugged into it and it turns the amp and the accesories on and off in sequence. (Thanks also for the good explanations above) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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